How do you.....

[tiggerv]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

The word 'great' was tossed around with all of the following, how would you rank them?

Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Bernardini, Barbaro or Curlin?

Barbaro, Curlin, Smarty, Bernardini, Alex

IMO Barbaro was the only one in that group who had a chance to be considered great. We obviously didn't get to see his warts but he was so good on both surfaces that he would have had a huge career. I am probably giving too much credit to Curlin because he improved so dramatically while the rest of his classmates seemed to stay in place. Right now he probably looks better to me than he really is. Smarty was a very nice horse and I could see him ahead of Curlin. He always fired which I think is a mark of a great horse. Bernardini's best race that I saw was the loss to Invasor. His Preakness was visually impressive with that big move in the turn but does he even win that if Barbaro duels him down the stretch? Perhaps thats what I can't get over and I don't give him enough credit. Alex was a nice horse but a notch below the others.